The invention relates to an oven comprising a housing, a conveyor belt for guiding products through the interior space of the housing and heating means for heating the products in the interior space of the housing using a fluid, such as hot air and/or steam, which conveyor belt extends between an entrance and an exit of the housing and, between these two points, follows at least one path with turns which lie above one another.
An oven of this type is known from EP-A-558151 and is suitable for the complete or partial cooking of edible products. Examples of these products include meat products, such as chicken, hamburgers, cordon bleu and the like. The temperature and humidity can be set in such a manner that during the residence time in the oven, which is dependent on the length and velocity of the conveyor belt, the desired cooking can be effected.
For this purpose, the heating means comprise one or more fans and one or more air-heating elements. The fan sucks air out of the interior of the housing and blows it past the air-heating elements via an air duct. The heated air then flows along and between the turns on which the products are situated. This results in circulation of the air in the housing, which can be kept at the required temperature and humidity by suitable control means. Steam can also be used as the heating medium.
For certain products, it is desirable for the outer surface to be browned or made crispy. However, in the known oven it is not very easy to ensure an effect of this type, on account of the relatively uniform circulation of air in the housing. Therefore, it is an object of the invention to provide an oven of the type described above which allows the products to be browned more successfully and/or to be provided with a crispy crust. This object is achieved by the fact that at least one fluid jet device is provided for generating a hot flow of fluid in jet form, which fluid jet device is positioned in such a manner with respect to at least one section of the conveyor belt that the hot flow of fluid in jet form impinges on the products situated on that section.
A fluid jet device of this type, which may be situated above straight and/or curved sections of the conveyor belt, delivers hot air jets which have a relatively high jet velocity. This jet velocity is considerably higher than the standard circulation velocity at which air circulates through the housing. The hot air jets come into contact with the products moving through beneath the air jet device, resulting in intensive heat transfer to the outer side of the product. This intensive heat transfer leads to a considerable rise in the temperature and drying on the outer side, resulting in browning and/or the formation of a crispy crust.
The fluid jet device can be arranged at various locations of the conveyor belt. However, a position above at least a section of the top turn of the conveyor belt and/or the straight conveyor-belt section which follows this turn is preferred. The advantage of this position is that the heating means which are responsible for supplying heated air are generally situated at the top in or on the housing. A further advantage of a high position is that there is less contamination of, inter alia, the fluid jet device. Nevertheless, the fluid jet device may also be arranged elsewhere, for example between the turns, if the heating means are in different, lower position.
The fluid jet device may comprise at least one jet nozzle for delivering a jet of hot fluid, such as hot air. The fluid jet nozzle may be in all kinds of forms, for example in sharp-edged form, in slot form, in the form of a circle, a quadrilateral, a star shape, etc. The fluid jet device preferably comprises a series of jet nozzles which may, for example, be circular in cross section. The fluid jet nozzles may be designed in the form of pipes, in the form of holes in a plate, etc. Moreover, the fluid jet nozzles may have a controllable or closeable passage.
The series of fluid jet nozzles may be arranged in a specific distribution. The distribution may be such that the sum of the surfaces of the nozzles which lie in the vicinity of the inner side of the curved series per unit surface area is greater than the sum of the surfaces of the nozzles which lie in the vicinity of the outer side of the curved series per unit surface area. As a result, in particular, of the curvature of the belt, the products, which are spread out at regular intervals over a straight conveyor-belt section when they enter the oven, are closer together at the inner side of the curved conveyor-belt section than at the outer side. The products which are closer together would be heated less well than the other products, but on account of the greater intensity of air jets on the inner side, this adverse effect can be avoided. Nevertheless, it is also possible to select a different distribution of the fluid jet nozzles. It will always be attempted to select this distribution in such a way that uniform browning/cooking of the products on the belt is achieved. If, for example, the browning of the products which lie on the outer circumference of the belt is inferior, the surface area of the jet nozzles on the outer side can be increased.
The differences in density of the series can be obtained, for example, by using larger air jet nozzles in the vicinity of the inner side. However, an embodiment in which the nozzles are identical and there is a shorter distance between the nozzles in the vicinity of the inner side of the curved series than in the vicinity of the outer side of the curved series is preferred. The series of nozzles may in this case comprise rows which extend transversely with respect to the direction of movement of the belt.
The fluid jet device may be designed in various ways, for example with sets of pipes which each open out into one or more fluid jet nozzles. However, an efficient, space-saving embodiment is obtained if the fluid jet device comprises at least one plate which extends above at least a section of the conveyor belt, which plate, on its side which is remote from the said conveyor-belt section, delimits a fluid duct and through which plate the at least one fluid nozzle passes. The hot air is forced outwards via the nozzles. In the plate, it is easy for the desired number of fluid jet nozzles to be arranged in a specific pattern.
The plate may extend over at least a section of the conveyor belt which runs in curved form in the path with turns which lie above one another, which plate comprises a series of jet nozzles which follows at least the curved section of the conveyor belt. Nevertheless, the plate may also extend over a straight conveyor-belt section.
The fluid duct is connected to a fan for forcing heated air and/or steam through the said fluid duct. The said fluid duct may, in a known way, be situated above the path with turns which lie above one another.
According to a preferred embodiment, the conveyor belt follows two paths with turns which lie above one another, the top turns of which paths are connected to one another via a straight, connecting conveyor-belt section and at least one of which paths is provided with a fluid jet device.
The two paths with turns which lie above one another are each situated in a separate zone with separate heating means and separate fluid jet devices.
In each zone, the fluid jet device is situated above the straight, connecting conveyor-belt section and the adjoining curved conveying section of the top turn. The zones are separated by means of a partition with a passage through which the straight, connecting conveyor-belt section extends.
In the oven according to the invention, the fluid flow naturally comes into contact first with the product which is situated on the conveyor belt. Then, some of the fluid will flow transversely through the conveyor belt. The conveyor belt is composed, in a known way, of a large number of wire links, and is therefore relatively highly permeable to the flow of fluid.
Consequently, the flow of fluid may also come into contact with the products on the lower sections of the conveyor belt. Since the fluid has by then already lost some of its heat and velocity, the problem may arise that the treatment of the products on these sections are more difficult to control.
In this context, it is possible to provide at least one shield which, with respect to the fluid jet device, is situated on the other side of the section of the conveyor belt, for the purpose of diverting the fluid originating from the fluid jet device towards at least one of the longitudinal edges of the section of the conveyor belt.
The fluid which has been diverted by the shield can then flow down past the turns and between them in the normal way. The shield preferably runs obliquely downwards, as seen in the direction of the outer contour of the conveyor belt.